YARA OASIS
AC-CA Competition - 2012 - Market in Casa Blanca
DESIGN TEAM: Travis Avery, Travis Cook
Yara – [YAA-Raa]
1. an Arabic girl’s name of obscure origins
2. `Earthen Water Jug`.
3. strong; spring – exact origin is unknown
Oasis - [oh-EY-sis]
1. a small fertile or green area in a desert region, usually having a spring or well.
2. something serving as a refuge, relief, or pleasant change from what is usual, annoying, difficult.
Sustainability as a design goal is a complex and multifaceted challenge – one every designer must consider critically within a number of conditions and reactions throughout the design process. Energy use, in the form of electricity and fuel, material and water resources, and the embodied sum of manufacture, transport and removal are just several aspects to be considered within the larger subject of sustainability. There also exists a social component to designing sustainably. The built environment must perform effectively , not only in terms of its energy and resource use, but as a cultural entity. Users of these environments must be well accommodated – climatically, socially, intellectually, and even spiritually – in order for a work to be truly sustainable. The chosen site in Casablanca is a space that stands to benefit from an implementation of sustainable principals that consider the topic on many levels. Basic issues of shade, breeze, cooling – essentially the creation of a microclimate – must be paired with more subtle and nuanced responses to context. The resulting design must perform beyond mere climatic conditions by addressing the cultural realities - a Micro-Environment.
Components of a Micro-Environment
Shade and Breeze – Shade is an essential component of a cooling micro-environment. Our proposal covers nearly the entire market site with a light spaceframe and membrane canopy. While the canopy is effective at shading when the sun is high, vertical screening is necessary for morning and evening shading of the market space. Taking cues from Morocco’s thriving textile as well as maritime traditions, our design proposes the use of rope cord as the vertical shading system. The cord is applied in such a way that it functions structurally as a tensile brace, securing the canopy along its perimeter. The screen allows breezes to pass through, another crucial component of a cooling micro-environment.
The varying angles of the chord members provide cross bracing, allow access to the market, block specific seasonal sun conditions, and begin to generate and modulate patterns derived from pure, overlapping geometries. The resulting vertical shade system has been generated using parametric modeling. By developing the system first, in this case the cord as a shade screen, the parameters of the resulting form are firmly grounded in the nature of the material being used. Therefore, simply by dictating the precise location of each cord anchor, the resulting form is achievable with minimal deviation from standard assembly.
Water - In addition to water affecting perceived, qualitative aspects of a space, the presence of water causes evaporative cooling, lowering the ambient air temperature of the market. Water has been used for millennia for both of these reasons as a sustainable cooling measure.
Ancient Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures have developed ingenious systems for cooling by utilizing the effects of evaporation. One such invention is the Yara (Yara or Jara in Arabic, Botijo in Spanish), which is essentially a single or, in larger applications, a double-walled clay jar. The inner jar is filled with items desired to be cooled and the cavity between the jars is filled with sand or gravel and water. The unglazed outer shell absorbs water and evaporates it from the outer surface, causing the entire assembly to remain remarkably cool.
We proposes a reinterpretation of one of the components of the traditional Yara. Rainwater, collected from the shade canopy and stored in the rain column, will ultimately be delivered to a large, shallow cistern. The water is then absorbed into the porous top portion of the cistern and the resulting evaporation has the potential to significantly lower the ambient temperature of the space.
Program – Our design seeks to provide an armature – a desirable climatic and cultural environment – in which program may be appropriated as seen fit by the user groups of the market space. Specific programmatic requirements are met, such as the café/information board, newspaper kiosk, bathroom facilities and storage. The decision to place the more profane program elements outside of the market enclosure was made out of a desire for cleanliness and hygiene – an important aspect of Islamic culture, and logical for public space. The kiosk and café elements are placed within the enclosure where they anchor the east and west corners of the site, allowing their associated activities to charge the space between them. The fountain element exists as the focal core of the space, both structurally and conceptually. The exchange of information, both within the immediate community and beyond, social interactions associated with café culture, and moments of cool respite amid the bright heat of the Moroccan sun – all have the potential to augment the already existing rich cultural environment of the city.